The Ending Journey
by GLaDOS-01
Summary: When, across the world, caves with strange ruins are found, what will happen to those who discovered them? Where were these ruins from, and when did they appear? Though it is only the beginning, the world we thought to be a video game is getting a few new recruits. Let's hope they don't die before they can help. Planned to span both games and more.
1. Taken From And Placed Before A Mystery

**A/N: This is an experimental SI for Dragon Age, everyone. I don't know if it will become a full-length story on here even though I've already written more than a hundred pages so I'll leave it up to you. If you like it tell me and I will continue. If I don't get a certain number of responses I won't continue since I have other stories I'm working on. **

Japan

"Takashi! Takashi, hurry up!" Asoka yelled, running as fast as she could. "Run faster!" she screamed, terrified. Asoka didn't want to let go of his hand. She couldn't- he was her best friend! She couldn't just leave him behind! But he was falling behind. He kept tripping over his heels.

"Let go, Aso-chan!" her eyes stung and she pushed harder, running from the danger. Takashi only smiled. "I can't keep up with the track star." He said, and broke her grip on his wrist. He pushed her ahead and ran back the way they came. She tripped and fell to the ground, staring back at the horror. Takashi spread his arms wide in an effort to protect her from the blasts coming from Them. Whatever they were.  
"I will protect my friend with my life and honor my family!" he screamed, tackling one of them to the ground. Another stared straight at her with glowing eyes, approaching quickly. She struggled to her feet, feeling fear escalate into a panic for survival, and began running once more, feeling tears fall down her face.

Pain erupted in her shoulder and burned her entire body, slamming her back to the ground. Her right arm was useless now. She looked back to see they were closer, still gaining. She knew it was only a matter of time before they caught and killed her. She'd run far enough. Looking back up the snowy hill she'd run down from the strange ruin, she saw Takashi lying in the white land. Red was melting some of it behind him.

This made anger fill her. She glared up at the _thing _above her, her face tightening and her nose upturning in disgust. It leaned down and gripped her collar, picking her up at least two feet from the ground. Most of its face was covered or too blackened to make out, but the teeth… she saw the black, jagged teeth far too easily. It growled at her, opening its mouth and pouring the scent of death over her face. She would have gagged if she could.

_If ever in danger, look into your enemy's eyes. This will tell you your fate._

She reached forward with her left arm, feeling her right shoulder still burning. Managing to make it to the thing's face, she grabbed the ancient, dirty bandage covering its eyes and pulled as hard as she could. It growled louder and tightened its grip. She stared into the pits of darkness that would've been eyes, her own widening. It wasn't even as if its eyes were simply black. No, that she could see… This creature… this thing…

_If they are dark… you have a chance. If they shine… they have no choice. If there are none… curse by the ancestors and __**make**__ a choice!_

There were no eyes.

"_**Architect calls!" **_unable to understand its garbled tongue, Asuka glared into the darkness of its soul.

"I will _make _my choice!" she growled. "And I choose to take you with me!"

Taking the bandage in her hand, she tightened it into a fist.

"Eat my fist!" she snarled, pulling her fist back and thrusting it down the thing's throat. It only growled and bit down on her forearm. The acidic feel of the black teeth made her scream, pain overwhelming her.

The next thing she knew, darkness was all she saw.

…

Austria

"Mom…!" Alessa whispered, seeing those _things _grab her. A black blade piercing her body a second later sounded various crunching and squishing noises, causing Alessa to cringe. Tears persisted but she kept them back, seeing her mother's limp body thrown over one of their shoulders.

The largest one then came to her and picked her up, dragging her out of the cave she'd only just discovered. What had that seal done?! Her mind screamed and cried and her heart bled, but her body held it back. She bared her teeth, looking up at the thing carrying her mom behind whatever was dragging her away. The tears spilled over as rage encompassed her whole being, causing her to shake.

"Stop touching her!" she screamed, twisting sharply in the leader's grip, making it drop her. She instantly crouched and tackled the thing now in front of her, sending it and her mom to the ground. She straddled it as she punched its face over and over and over again, drawing blood and breaking everything she could.

Only seconds later was she grabbed again and sent into darkness.

…

Russia

"Do not touch him!" Anya growled, standing between monsters and her little brother. He whimpered behind her, pressed against the ritual stone in the middle of the cave. Twirling the large sword her father left her in her hands, she steadied herself. This was never meant to happen.

The leader, a seven-foot tall creature decked in ancient robes and a face in bandages, pointed toward her. The five things behind it snarled and roared, brandishing their own weapons. There was no way she could really fend them off or even kill them, but she knew she had no choice but to protect her brother. He was the only family left to her, after all.

"_**Architect will have you!" **_the leader yelled, its voice so garbled and foreign she couldn't make out what it said.

"You will die!" she roared, charging forward. The five other things got in front of the leader and charged as well, snarling loudly. Without even thinking, Anya gripped the handle of the sword and swept in a large circle, slicing into the beings. She actually managed to slice an overeager one in half, but two more grabbed her and threw her to the ground, holding her down. The other one captured her little brother and drug him in front of the leader. It stared down at his tiny body for only a moment before it brandished its bladed staff.

"NO!" she screamed, just as her little Ivan was impaled. She stared into his dying eyes as they faded, tears persisting and hazing her vision. They spilled over and she bared her teeth, trying to breathe.

"_**Take her!" **_the thing barked.

"He was seven!" she screamed, fighting the things atop her. "He was only seven!"

Pain at the back of her head then sent her into darkness.

**A/N: So, what did you think? Tell me and I promise to update quickly! Thanks for reading, and have a nice day. **

**And in case you were wondering, no, these girls are not the only characters. ;)**


	2. Waking Up But Feeling Dead

**A/N: Well since I felt like it I thought I would upload the next chapter. I apologize in advance if it's too fast-paced or they're too smart; I just kind of went through my train of thought…**

I groaned as I awoke, painfully aware of every sore spot and injury on my body. I rolled onto my side and let out a shaky exhale with my eyes screwed shut tight against the light of the sun. And was that grass and dirt I was laying on? I didn't know how I had gotten outside… The last thing I remembered doing was finding some weird cave in the middle of the forest. And then those_ things_ came…

The next thing I could recall, I got a splitting headache and passed out or something; hence my situation.

_They seemed familiar, almost…_

I sat up slowly, curiosity winning out as to where I was. My eyes cracked open and blinked rapidly to try and adjust. I don't recall being this sensitive to light, either… Once I managed, I looked up and focused. Once I took in the scenery around me, I let out a frustrated sigh. Forest. All I could see was a large-ass amount of trees and a marsh. Where the hell did the marsh come from?

The weird part was that this place looked familiar. Although, I couldn't place where I'd seen it before. Certainly not from being there; I've never been to a marshy landscape before waking up there. Not to mention the humidity was lower than it should've been, for such a scene. It was cold, too. Was it Fall already? Had I missed the summer completely or was I insane?

"Great. I've gone to hell." I muttered, forcing myself to stand. All that accomplished was making me dizzy and light-headed, but at least I was up. Staggering over to a tree, I leaned against it and took a few breaths. My legs hurt, my arms hurt, my chest hurt… everything hurt. Even my fingernails! And there was this _taste _in my mouth; it was like I swallowed a possum carcass for no reason. Or two.

Seconds later, I heard a small groan and looked behind me to see three other people lying on the ground, unconscious. I could see I wasn't the only one who was injured. And in immense pain, if their groaning was any indication. Who were these people? And why are we all in the middle of nowhere, sleeping near each other? They all looked strange too, considering I didn't know I was in some strange medieval reenactment. Seriously, the clothes these people- and me- were wearing made us look like prisoners of war from the dark ages!

Most of all, I felt _dirty._ Not just regular sleeping outside in the dirt dirty, either, I knew what that felt like. No, this was dragged through mud, covered in blood, spit on and bathed with swamp water dirty. I may have been mostly dry but the water smell was definitely on me. And the gritty feeling just irritated me enough to where I would've preferred to be naked more than anything. Of course, if those people on the ground saw me they have some questions for it.

"Ivan…" I looked over to see a tall girl with white hair (weird, though it looked natural) sweating in her… nightmare I guess. From her expression. "Ivan…" she said again. Oh wait, I should wake her up!

I staggered over to her and knelt down, trying not to be awkward when I grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. She didn't wake up. I shook her a little harder, not wanting to hurt her. Still out. Frowning, I remembered how my dad slept heavy. I decided to shake her to do the trick I used to wake my dad up instantly. Reaching to the curve of her hip, I poked it, knowing the spot was sensitive if prodded.

As expected, her eyes flew open… and then snapped shut. She groaned and rolled to her side, getting in a fetal position. So she was sensitive to light too. I laid a hand on her shoulder, startling her. She squinted up at me for a moment but went back to closing her eyes and breathing deeply. I looked up at the others to see they were also in bad condition.

"Hey, are you alr- alright?" I asked, finding my voice was a little weaker than I recalled. Did I have amnesia or something? Damn.

"Y-yes…" she muttered, still obviously in pain. Finding myself unknowing of what to do, I went to another girl. She looked really small for some reason, but I gripped her shoulder and turned her on her back. From what I could see, she was… an… elf? What the hell kind of genetics do you need to get ears like that?!

"Um… hello…?" I tried, patting her shoulder. No luck. Taking my chances and _ignoring _the ears, I shook her a little. She snapped awake and went into a fetal position like the Russian-sounding girl I first woke up and groaned.  
"Are you okay?" I whispered. She only nodded, moaning in pain a little. Figuring that was all I'd get, I crawled to the last girl and turned her over.

I managed to shake her awake and she closed her eyes tightly but just rolled to her side, bracing her arms against the ground. I asked her if she was okay and all I got was a groan so I crawled back to my tree and sat back. The others seemed to come out of it soon and at least sat up, either holding their heads or some other wound they somehow had. I couldn't understand why we were out here or where we were, let alone how we were wounded, in weird clothes, and… well the time-skip thing was just fucked up. I remembered it being the beginning of summer but this, the temperature in a forest/marsh-swamp… made it look like I'd missed a season.

_Post-traumatic amnesia? Maybe…_

My old caretaker had taught me about it after he came back from Iraq.

Looking down at myself, I sighed. There was a deep cut in my right thigh and left side. The clothes were too fucked to save and the shoes were pretty much eaten sandals. My hands were shaking and a few cuts were on them. My wrists, however, showed I must've been shackled at some point. They were red, irritated, bleeding in some places and just generally weak. I doubted I'd be able to lift anything more than ten pounds for a week. My ankles showed the same story but they were weak more than anything. The skin was red too, but they weren't bleeding. Walking was out of the question for at least five days. Unless I wanted to slow down the healing process and sprain them then I could walk just fine. My arms were cut up but none of the wounds were really bleeding or life-threatening. I furrowed my brows and immediately regretted it. The skin above my right eye burned and I felt it cracking open at my moving my face, beginning to bleed again. I reached up and felt a deep cut vertically slashing down my right eye. Good thing my eyebrow was okay though…

Sighing once more, I evaluated the others. They all seemed to be in as bad a condition as I was. All of them, from what I could see, had the same shackle marks as me, making them my fellow prisoners. From wherever… we came from… I guess. If I had to guess we escaped and collapsed of injury and exhaustion in these woods some time ago, maybe a few hours tops. Assuming we were able to run away at all, let alone successfully. But then, since we weren't imprisoned somewhere we did in fact escape.

My eyes then moved to the elf girl still lying down. She was petite but she wasn't very short, maybe 5'2", 5'3". I myself was 5'5", being fifteen years old; the others looked around my age as well. Looking at the Russian, platinum-blond-haired girl, I figured her to be an inch and a half taller than me, maybe early sixteen. The last girl I woke up looked to be my height exactly. I always was good at measuring height and age accurately.

Not to mean I knew elf ages. Who knew how old she was? And what did that mean for me? I knew her ears were real, but unless I was in a movie or video game, I…

Wait a minute…

The monsters… My headache strained, trying to remember.

_The monsters I saw in… the cave… took me. Those things that were familiar… they looked just like… _

_And that elf girl over there… she couldn't be…_

No way…

**A/N: Wonder what happened to the main character… And what's with these chicks, man? They're smart, huh?**


	3. I Spy

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, everyone!**

"Darkspawn!" I whispered in astonishment, my eyes wide. "Elves!" I continued. "The clothes, everything makes sense- this is Dragon Age!" I suddenly announced, getting the other's' attention. They looked over to me with narrowed eyes, no doubt trying to process what I'd said.  
"Th-the cave I found- those creatures- they were Darkspawn! And these clothes! That elf!" I continued, feeling excitement and panic mingle together and swell inside of my system. They continued to look at me, and then slowly, they turned their heads to look at the elf girl. She looked at them in confusion and I watched as their eyes grew to the size of plates.

"What…?" she asked quietly, looking down at herself in confusion.

"Y-your… um… your…!" the Austrian girl stuttered, her accent tipping me off to her nationality. She fanned her hands next to her ears, causing the girl to reach up and feel the ears for herself. Didn't she know she was an-

"Aah!" she yelped, feeling the ears. Her wild eyes told me she didn't know, and was now freaking out. "I-I am not an e-elf! I am Japanese!" she cried, going into a complete panic.

"Calm down, calm down!" I ordered, unable to move from my spot given my pained body and lack of energy, getting her attention. "Just calm down and we'll figure this out." I said, getting her to take deep breaths.

"O-okay…" she muttered. If she was Japanese the last time she checked, she wasn't anymore. Obviously. Her accent wasn't even there anymore, assuming she had it in the first place. It sounded more like British to me. Like London accent or something. Weird. Unless she always had that accent, you never know…

"Okay… from what I've gathered, we were prisoners of some sort. I don't know where or how or how long. The last thing I remember is finding some cave leading into a ruin of some kind." I explained. The others began thinking, their faces tightening.

"I remember a cave too. And then those creatures… Darkspawn came." The Russian girl said.

"I was in a cave too. By a pedestal…" the Austrian one said.

"W-with a ritual st-stone on top? Me as well." The elf stuttered. Man, she got it really hard didn't she? The poor girl was turned into an elf on top of everything else we were going through. Not that I didn't think the ears were cute, I just felt sorry for her.

"Not to mention I recall it being the first day of summer. Now, it looks like the fall." I said, looking around, prompting the others to do the same.

"I have read of subconscious amnesia caused by traumatic experiences. Maybe that happened to us, considering…" the Austrian girl said, looking down at herself for emphasis. I sighed, nodding slightly. Why these people didn't feel like strangers to me was a mystery, but there you go. I felt like I knew them. I probably did before I lost my memory and collapsed in the middle of nowhere.

"I agree." I said, my Scottish accent giving me a slight roll of the 'r'. It usually got thicker when I was either tired or really worked up, and I was. It was no surprise to me then, that I felt the need to ramble on in the singular effort to ignore the pain around my bruised and battered joints. I couldn't even feel my thigh anymore, over the shooting burning I felt when it only twitched.

"Okay, conjecture is checked off the list. What are we supposed to do if we lost our memory? If we are in a video game I've played, fine. But where are we? It isn't as if we can walk with these useless appendages." The Russian girl frowned in distaste, glaring briefly toward her legs. I furrowed only my left brow and chewed my lip, trying to think.

"We could get to re-learning each other's' names. I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like I know you all. It would make sense, considering…" I suggested, seeing the thoughtful expressions. Soon, the Austrian girl nodded.

"My name is Alessa Nadine. Nice to meet you. Again." she smiled. I smiled back.

"Anya. Anya Romanov." The Russian girl stated. I returned her single nod, pushing past the surname I recognized. She didn't seem the type to want to talk, let alone right now anyway.

"I'm Asuka, Yuki Asuka. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The elven girl said, seemingly feeling better. I smiled back and nodded.

"And I'm Kathryn Blankenship." I said, the others nodding. "Now that that's out of the way, let's figure out what we're going to do."

…

"We could… crawl." Anya muttered. I stared down the path we seemed to be headed before we lost our memory, sighing through my nose.

"How long will that take?" Alessa asked. "A week?"

"Then you think of something." Anya retorted, not even looking at her.

"I already suggested crutches." She replied.

"And we have already said our bodies were too weak to go working that much." Anya returned.

"It isn't as if crawling conserves energy either." Alessa frowned. Anya grinned to herself, though there was no amusement in it whatsoever.

"Touché." She muttered.

"Maybe a traveler will come this way. It looks like a well-worn path…" Asuka said, getting our attention. I looked behind us and settled against my tree to keep still. My body was too sore to move too much.

"You're a genius, Asuka." I smiled. "And even if we have to wait I figure we have another day before we die." I added, much to the other's' shock.

"What are you talking about?" Alessa asked, horrified.

"Well if we weren't already starved we're certainly dehydrated. I've been seeing spots all day, or however long we've been awake. I figure we have about a day, given I'm starting to black out in the sight area every now and then." I explained, making her sigh dramatically.

"I would hate to meet my ancestors that way." Asuka muttered. I regarded her with question, prompting an explanation. She looked down and picked at some random patch of leaves beside of her.

"To meet the warriors and artisans of my lineage after my death… I would be honored to do so. But if this is how it ends… after going to the trouble of surviving being a prisoner and tortured… to die of thirst instead…" she murmured, the sadness in her voice telling.

"I too would hate to join my family in such a way." Anya muttered, an agreeing nod from Alessa.

"I would if I thought we were still able to." I stated, seeing them look at me. "Well think about it. We're in another reality entirely and Asuka is an elf. Different worlds have different laws, I think, so why worry? If I do meet my ancestors I'll tell them I'm the first in the family to be taken to a different world and –probably- tortured, only to survive. How we die now may not matter if we were strong enough to make it this far. Right?" I smiled.

They only stared at me for a moment, expressions blank. Then, Anya smirked.

"Nice speech." She said.

"It's comforting to know that, though." Alessa said, reclining back to the ground slowly and taking a deep breath. The small, content smile on her face was telling.

"Yes. Thank you, Kathryn-San." Asuka smiled.

"Might want to just call people by their names. If you give them suffixes they'll suspect." She blushed and I smiled at her. "If we live, anyway."

A long silence went by, and then…

"Anyone up for a game of 'I Spy'?"

**A/N: What do you think? Sorry it took so long to update but I've been enormously busy. And I also found myself sucked into the proverbial vortex of fanfiction I needed to read and look over or do research for. But thanks for reading, and please review! **

**Remember, it makes me want to update faster!**


	4. Mystery Malcolm

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long in updating. Without any reviews I'm not sure where you want me to head in this and all.**

An hour later, I heard a sound coming down the path. It was like creaking wood or something, and wheels. My ears perked at the sound, straining to hear it properly, while my eyes narrowed in anticipation.

Seconds later, I saw someone in the distance, riding a cart of some kind. The others looked up as well and turned to see it; their expressions told me they were letting themselves hope just as I was.

"Is that a farmer?" Alessa wondered.

"Let me guess… he's riding a cart, there's hay in the back, he's whistling a not-so-catchy tune… he fits the description." Anya replied.

"Try not to state the obvious, Anya. It's bad for your brain." Alessa said back. These two were going to argue all the time weren't they. I shared a brief glance with Asuka, finding she thought the same thing. Wonderful.

As the man drew closer, I looked to the others, watching them bicker.

"Stop it!" I snapped, even startling myself. I wasn't one to lose my patience very quickly. "Just look pitiful and be quiet." I said.

"How can we be more pitiful than we are right now?" Anya sighed, shaking her head. I looked back up to see the man noticed us and was now staring at me with narrowed eyes and a slight frown. Great. If this was some kind of hateful farmer I'd just wait for the next ride to come along.

Once to us, he stopped the horse driving the cart and regarded us for a little longer.

"What happened to you four? Are you alright?" he asked, looking back at me.

"If you count _dying _as alright, then yes, we're just perfectly healthy." Anya frowned, seemingly finding the question pointless. We did look like we were just eaten and spit out by Darkspawn after all.

"Great way to introduce yourself Anya. Next time why don't you just tell him you're Tsar Peter." Alessa hissed. Much to my surprise, the man smiled to himself and hopped off the cart.

"I assume you need a lift?" he asked, smirking. I smirked back, knowing I looked like hell leaning against that tree.

"Depends on where you're headed." I replied. He blew out a smile and looked down the road, emphasizing there was only one way.

"Lothering. I've got a house there, I should be able to take care of you." he answered, making the corner of my lip twitch. This guy's voice sounded familiar and he looked familiar. Lothering was also the home of the Hawkes. Was this guy one of them?

"Well we wouldn't want to intrude…" I trailed, looking to the side. Alessa looked to me in panic.

"Yes, we do want to intrude! I would like to live, thank you!" she snapped.

"… But if you insist…" I said, making him chuckle and shake his head. He then handed me his hand.

"Malcolm Hawke, at your service." He grinned. I gulped as I took his hand, feeling the silence that fell on my companions. So they knew too.

"Kathryn Blankenship." I replied. He looked at me with an almost confused frown, seemingly knowing something I didn't, but shook my hand with a nod.

After he introduced himself to the others he came back to me. I could see him scanning each of our bodies thoroughly, looking for something almost. When his eyes met with the shackle marks they narrowed and disgusted frown made its way to his face. Not for us, though… for what it implied; that we were prisoners. Most likely abused, too, considering the wounds. Now that I thought of it, I wondered how we were still alive. Seriously, it was that bad.

Without saying a word, Malcolm bent down and picked me up. He went to the cart and somehow lifted me up into the seat next to where he'd been sitting. What I didn't notice before was the ten year old also in the seat. She had shoulder-length black hair and innocent amber eyes. And she was staring at me. Unblinkingly.

Shifting of hay got my attention and I looked back to see Asuka laying there. Her expression told me she felt a little wierded out. Next came a cynical Anya, calm as ever. And lastly, the smirk of Alessa. What I didn't anticipate was Malcolm hopping up after them. He looked to me, sensing my stare and sighed.

"I need to see these wounds to know what I need to do as fast as possible. There's only one road, and Bethany will help you if need be, so try to drive the cart for me please." He explained, making me frown. I jerked in surprise and turned back, feeling less important than the others.

"You need to sit in the middle." Little Bethany said, getting my attention. I hesitated, and then looked to her in question, hoping I just heard her wrong. If I had to move to the middle my wrists would be hurting for three weeks. At best.

"What?" I asked. She pointed next to her.

"You should sit in the middle. It's easier steering." She repeated. I hesitated once more and lifted my still-shaking hand to look at my wrist with worry. I couldn't just use my legs either, they were injured and so were my ankles. FML, man….  
"What's wrong with your wrist? Is it okay? Does it hurt?" she asked, gently taking my arm and staring at it with worry. I simply smiled.

"Don't worry about it." I replied, setting my hands down on the seat. I then pushed down, letting out a breath of pain and baring my teeth. I could feel them spraining all over again from the weight alone, making my arms shake.

Moving to my left slowly, I managed to inch my way to the middle. I lifted my hands once more to see they were shaking even more than before and they hurt a lot. Taking a breath to try and channel it up my arms to make it lessen a little, I grabbed the reigns and got the horse moving.

**A/N: I'm not giving up on this story, just so you know. I've written the first 130 pages so we should be set for a little while at least. If I don't update within the week then send me a PM to remind me. I really do forget sometimes.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	5. Too Bright

**Xaiael: I'm glad you like it! And yes, I will update more often. There will be more OCs down the road too, but these will be the only ones from our world. Probably. ;)**

**A/N: Glad I updated quickly?**

"Hmm…!" Bethany hummed, her hands with their insides pressed together, making an umbrella shape over my left wrist. She'd been doing that for at least two minutes now. I tried to ignore it, but her humming wasn't helping.  
"Mmmm…!" she continued, fiercely concentrating on whatever it was she wanted to do. I sniffed, feeling a little awkward. I hoped she wasn't trying to set my wrist on fire. That would be pretty painful.

"Bethany, stop that." Malcolm said, no doubt just noticing she was doing it. I kept from saying I already knew they were mages and stared ahead.

"But she's hurt!" she whined, looking at her father with pleading eyes. I could feel his hesitant glance on the back of my head, so I just turned and smiled at him. I laid a hand on Bethany's head.

"Don't worry about it, young one." I smiled down at her, feeling Malcolm's worry and hesitation all too clearly. He was worried I would do something were I to find out about their gifts. It made sense, but he was helping us. Even if I were a random traveler that hated mages there was no way I'd sell them out before I got better.

"But you're-!" she protested, only for me to shake my head.

"I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me." she looked down, saddened. I smiled. "But if you really want to help?" I started, lifting her face.

"I do!" she stated, to which I smiled a little wider.

"Then give me a cute smile. That'll make me feel loads better." I said, making her frown at me.

"But that won't heal you! It's not magic!"

"Bethany!" Malcolm snapped. Her face fell and she crossed her arms, as tears filled her eyes. I draped an arm over her shoulders and smiled to myself.

"Well, young one… there are many different kinds of magic." I started. She looked up at me, still frowning but less pouty. I gave her a smile. "There are some that come from the mind…"

"Like knowing stuff?" she asked.

"Right. You can't use magic without knowing it first, yes? So you can't know something without seeing all of its sides and angles. Only then can you judge whether you can use that kind or not." I explained. I wiped a tear away that fell down and leaned back. She scooted closer and leaned into me, sniffing.

"… What kinds are there?" she asked quietly, almost afraid. I let out a humming sound as if I was thinking.

"Well, there are many. Some are used to hurt people while others are meant to protect them. Another kind is used to heal them, while still there are some used to poison them. It's a very long list with much more left to discover. Such as healing…" I explained.  
"Healing magic is for one's body, yes?" I asked, looking down at Bethany. She looked down in thought, frowning in concentration as she listened intently. I had to blink through more spots in my eyes before I heard her response.

"I guess…" she muttered.

"It may heal one's body, give them back their energy or even bring them back from the edge of death. But there are still some wounds healing the body will not fix." She looked up at me in confusion.

"Like what?" she asked.

"I only know of three things. And only one kind of magic can truly heal them."

"What, what?" she insisted, making me smile.

"One is here." I said, poking her in the forehead. "The mind can sometimes be… turned into what it shouldn't be. Sometimes, that one magic can heal it."

"What's two?" she asked, excited now.

"Here, of course." I chuckled, poking her heart. "Wounds to the heart may not bleed, but it takes a very long time for them to close. Sometimes, they never go away if not given the chance to heal." I explained.

"And three?" she murmured.

"Well this one is as tricky as the heart. You can't see it, but it's there." She frowned at me and I chuckled. "Your soul." I clarified.

"Ooh…" she said.

"The soul is very hard to understand, and very often it is abused and forced to take burdens it shouldn't. Just like the heart. Only that one magic can ever hope to truly heal these three things." I finished. Or intensive therapy. But there was no need to get into _that_ right now.

"But what kind of magic is it?" she asked, confused. I smiled to myself and looked forward.

"You'll figure it out when you're older." I said. To be honest I just didn't want to utter that mushy word.

"Hmph!" she huffed, crossing her arms and pouting.

"But I will give you a hint…" I looked down at her and she regarded me with hope. "Anyone can give or receive this magic. Few ever truly find it. But once they have it… they never let it go." I said. She just looked at me and then looked back down, sighing.

Her hands gently took my left arm that was around her, and she gazed at the shackle marks intensely. She still hadn't smiled at me to make me feel better.

She, ever so gently, hugged my forearm to her chest and leaned into me as if reclining. Obviously this caused a shoot of pain to hit me. I stayed still and looked back at Malcolm to try and ignore it, and locked eyes with him knowingly. Telling him I knew and didn't really care.

We shared a few moments and soon, he let out a breath, sighing. He glanced at the others and saw their expressions as well. I could feel the tension leave him then, just a little, and I turned back to see we were close to Lothering already.

…

Once into the bright, unfiltered sunlight, my eyes instantly shut once more. They even hurt from the harsh rays and my head pulsed as if my body was trying to adjust as well. The warmth of the rays on my skin seemed so much stronger. If I didn't know any better I'd think I spent my time underground for the past season, or longer.

Oh, who was I kidding? I had no idea of anything anymore.

"What's wrong?" I heard Malcolm ask someone behind me.

"It's so bright!" Alessa muttered, sounding pained. Her eyes must've been hurting too.

"Is the sun supposed to be that strong?" Anya groaned, turning to her side in the hay.

"It's just morning; it isn't enormously bright at all." He replied, sounding confused. Great. Now we were night stalkers or something. "How long were you… in that forest?" he hesitated a little before saying the last part. I couldn't tell if he was asking about the imprisonment thing indirectly or trying not to mention it at all. I opened my eyes and squinted, blinking for a moment, trying to adjust.

Unfortunately we must have been in the dark for too long a time. My eyes were still too sensitive to really open them much.

I glanced back at Malcolm, "We don't know." I answered.

He didn't reply and soon Bethany got my attention. She pointed out a house towards the edge to the village with a field in front of it. Now that I saw it, I recognized it as the house you couldn't go into in the first game. So they lived there, huh…?

I pulled on the reigns and drove the cart where Bethany directed me, trying not to make a mistake since my wrists were still hurting. It was the feeling you have when something's sprained or even when your hands are too weak to make a fist in the morning because you slept so long. But then, add in burning pain. The skin over my wrists itched and burned too. So much so that I was thankful my hands were too occupied to scratch at the injuries.

I stopped the cart outside the barn and released the reigns. Bethany praised me and sat forward but she still had my arm in her grip. A small boy then ran outside, led by an older girl, maybe twelve. It looked to be Carver and Marian. They smiled up at their father who hopped off from the wagon to greet them. I felt a small twinge of sadness fill me as I looked upon their happy faces. I wished I could've known what that felt like as a kid.

"Who are they, father?" Marian asked, curious. Malcolm chuckled and glanced at me, then Bethany holding on to me.

"Friends." He said simply. I felt the underlying meaning in that, and had to smile to myself. I guess the kids knew too because they smiled at me and immediately ran to the wagon while Malcolm went inside, no doubt to find Leandra. Now that I thought of it, he looked like the canon male Hawke from the game. They had to get it from somewhere, I supposed.

"Why do you look so bad?" Carver asked, getting me to look at him.

"It's… a long story." I replied, not knowing what I was supposed to say. Saying 'Hi, I'm from another world where you're a video game character. I found a cave one day and activated a ritual that summoned Darkspawn and an Arcane Horror; they kidnapped me and my friends from their homes, imprisoned us and tortured us for about a whole season, or two. Then we managed to escape and your father rescued us from the forest we found ourselves in. How about some water, I'm thirsty?' probably isn't the best way to go about it.

"I like stories." Carver pouted.

"Then ask me once I remember every detail." I shot back, not really admitting I probably had amnesia.

"But how will I know when that is?!" he argued, his childish voice making me laugh at him. Marian simply stared at my wounds and how Bethany held my injured arm. I didn't much like getting so much attention, really.

But hopefully it wouldn't be too awkward if Malcolm decided to save our lives and all.

**A/N: I should update again in the next few days or so. If you guys actually decide to review. I only get motivated when enough of you tell me what you like or what you want. For real.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	6. Should They Be Changed?

**A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed and I apologize for not updating sooner. I told you that I get sidetracked.**

"Leandra dear, they're injured. I have to help them, it just feels right." Malcolm said, looking upon his beautiful wife's worried face. She looked out the window and watched as the children laughed and made the others laugh in return. Even shy little Bethany seemed to take a liking to one of them. They looked so tired, so weak… Leandra couldn't bear the thought of what could've happened to such pretty young girls. They couldn't be any older than fourteen.

"But they might find out…" she whispered, feeling her heart tear at saying such selfish words. Malcolm gripped her shoulder, smiling. This got her attention and she looked to him questioningly, furrowing her brows.

"They already know, dear." Seeing her expression tighten, he added, "And before you say anything, no, I didn't tell them. Neither did Bethany."

She hesitated for a moment, hoping it was alright, feeling relieved over them already knowing. She just hoped the strangers weren't acting. But then, Malcolm was always a good judge of character. And looking outside… you couldn't fake the laughter they had. She smiled to herself, feeling something compelling her to help them, just as Malcolm had described. It felt… alright.

"Let's meet them then." She said, mirroring Malcolm's smile.

…

"And then-"

"I want to say this part!" Alessa cut off Anya, making her glare. "And then, a bear came out of nowhere! We steeled ourselves for the inevitable and charged forth, ramming the creature and slamming him to the ground. I held him down while-"

"-I climbed atop the massive beast and strangled it with-"

"-Your pantaloons!" Alessa cried, cutting Anya off for cutting her off again. I sighed with a shake of the head and smiled at how the kids awed. I'd be impressed as well if that were a true story.

"Wow! I've never heard of someone kill a giant bear like that before!" Carver cried, his eyes shining with excitement.

"What's another story? Did you fight wolves next?" Marian asked, also hyped up. I smirked at her but said nothing, seeing Malcolm and a younger Leandra (she was really pretty) come round the corner.

"Everyone, I want you to meet my wife, Leandra." Malcolm announced, getting our attention. I blinked and smiled at her, feeling a little out of place.

"It's nice to meet you all. Now, let's get you cleaned up." She said, already assessing us.

…

Who knew there was a lake near Lothering? I didn't. But then, the clean, clear water was warm from the sun and it felt like a bath so I found myself lacking care enough to go into it. It wasn't as if they showed you everything in the game anyway.

We had been taking baths in the water for the past while as well; about forty minutes or so. We really did have that much dirt on us. Alessa had just finished and Leandra gave her some clothes to wear. Anya was about to finish as well. All of us were, actually. I just wanted to enjoy feeling clean and weightless for a while longer.

Of course, it was only five minutes before Leandra called me over. The woman knew I was clean. Damn. Oh well… I sighed and swam over, getting out of the water. She gave me clothes as well and loaded us into the back of the wagon that was now free of hay. I had at first been surprised she was so accommodating but over the day I felt a little better about it.

I still didn't remember anything. Not that I really wanted to. Still, I wanted to know what happened to me at least in order for me to get my bearings. It was starting to bother me that I wasn't back at home, either.

Not that I had much of anything to go back to, but even so…

Once back to the house, Malcolm met us out front. He helped get us inside and set us down so he could look after our wounds. I volunteered to go last and Anya, being tough, decided to go second to last. Alessa wanted to show she was tough too so that forced Asuka to go first. She was pretty quiet but I could see she'd just been thinking most of the day. I would too if I'd been turned into an elf on top of being thrown into a video game.

It was kind of funny how the first person we met (in amnesia) was Malcolm Hawke of all people. Weird thing was, it was mentioned in the game that he died when the twins were just toddlers of some sickness. Unless I was remembering that wrong…

So maybe he didn't get sick this time around, so what? It wasn't as if that changed _everything _right?

Who was I kidding? If he was alive that meant some other shit was different. Great. And since the Hawke kids were just kids that meant it would be years before Ostagar. I guess it was nice we didn't appear in the middle of the Blight but what was I, or the others, supposed to do without knowing anything about this time? Other than a few things here and there, obviously.

Maybe we could go to the Wardens once we were healed. Or stick with the Hawkes and help them out in Kirkwall. Eventually. Since we had so much time maybe we could do both. Maybe even travel around Ferelden and see the sights, meet other people. Hell, we could even help Leliana with her whole betrayed-by-Marjolaine thing.

Maybe…

I wasn't going to make any plans for a while, though. At least not until we were all healed. I needed to be sure we were going to live first you see.

…

"There. You'll need rest for at least three days to get your strength back up but otherwise you should be fine." Malcolm smiled. He'd done a really good job with the healing in most areas; the cuts on my arms were gone, the swelling in my shackle joints was mostly gone and the soreness was taken care of.

The only problem you could say were the deep cuts. The one on my thigh was a scar but you'd have to look right at it to see it. Unfortunately that wasn't the case with the cut over my eye; it was a scar but it had been closed and opened so many times that it was too damaged to salvage. It ended up looking like a really bad scar. A badass one, but a bad one nonetheless. And here I had been hoping to keep my eyebrows intact…

"Thank you. For everything." I said sincerely, returning his smile. Bethany smiled at me as well; Malcolm had let her watch in order to understand it better. Apparently we were so injured that we inadvertently helped her gain more knowledge. I felt like a textbook of sorts. I had even convinced the old man to let her try out healing on the smaller cuts on my arms. She'd closed them much like Neosporin but Malcolm had to finish it off.

"It's nothing. But we do need to talk once the children are asleep." He muttered, after Bethany was called off by Leandra. I nodded in understanding, figuring he wanted to talk about more than just where we came from or how we knew.  
"To all of you." he turned, regarding the others, and they nodded as well. Anya really just crossed her arms but I knew she understood.

**A/N: I'm sorry I wasn't very in depth in this one. I'll make sure to write better next time if I get more reviews.**


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